The backlash over England’s shock exit from the 2015 Cricket World Cup exposes an ugly hypocrisy.
It’s the kind of hypocrisy which rears its ugly head after a ‘minnow’ has a win over its ‘more superior’ opponents – in particular, Australia, India and England.
It’s the kind of hypocrisy which undermines the expansion of the international game at a time when Test cricket, and more so ODI Cricket, needs a fresh dose of interest. Rather than give England a good old pounding over a poor performance, why is it so hard to talk up the achievements of the Bangladeshis?
Is it because the English and Australian cricket press have become so used to ‘Bangladeshi bashing’, seeing Bangladesh as easy beats? The Bangladeshis are now making all those naysayers look like ripe idiots.
It is this sort of attitude which needs to change. Heaven forbid that a nation like Bangladesh would ever dominate cricket!
The mere suggestion that the wins are flukes are insulting to the Bangladesh cricket team. What if the Bangladeshis achieve an unlikelier result and win the World Cup?
Every time Australian or England loses to a side like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, the talk is always about how embarrassing and humiliating it is for the Aussies and the Poms, not about how great it was for the Zimbabweans or Bangladeshis. Even as they bemoan and groan and wail and carry on over in the UK, a bigger picture is being missed.
Highlighting the 2003-04 Zimbabwean Tour of Australia as an example. Australian press circles were suggesting that because Zimbabwe were seen as nothing more than a glorified first grade club side, any Test centuries or hauls of wickets achieved against the minnow Test nation should not count. This was the response to Matthew Hayden’s then record-breaking knock of 380 in the first Test at the WACA.
Ironically, in the second and final Test at the SCG, Zimbabwean Stuart Carlisle scores a gutsy Test century in the game’s first innings.
Zimbabwe actually competed well for the entire game, and set the Australians a decent and defendable total (by SCG records) to chase. Even if the Australian’s chased it down with ease, no Australian journalist then dared to suggest Carlisle’s hundred should not count in Test records as a Test century – such was the absurdity of the suggestion.
Those who have followed the progress of Zimbabwean cricket knows how much Zimbabwean cricket has suffered due to the volatile politics in the country. Prior to then, Zimbabwe were making reasonable and encouraging progress as a Test side.
One wonders if the strife had never happened, how far Zimbabwe would have gone and where they would be now. Could they, for example, have made the progress that New Zealand have?
The Black Caps used to be a there and thereabouts team who will cause big upsets and trouble the big guys from time to time, but never actually win a big tournament. Now, in 2015, it might finally be the Kiwis year.
Sri Lanka were once minnows, but in 1996 became World Cup champions and revolutionised the way one day international and limited overs cricket was being played. The Sri Lankans still prove to be the most entertaining ODI cricket team on their day. And where would the game be without the festival-like atmosphere Sri Lankan fans bring to the games?
It is a great story for world cricket that South Africa have been the most dominant side in recent times, after much moaning that there was not enough competition while Australia was dominating. How times have changed, and how the game has grown – such has been the benefit of T20 Cricket.
There is no suggestion here the Bangladeshis will go on and dominate the game; but let’s just suppose it is possible, how great will it be for the game then?
One of the reasons why this could be a reality in the future is the strength and rapid growth of the game in Asia and the sub-continent via the IPL, Big Bash League and other T20 leagues. While the ICC still needs to find the right balance in order to preserve Test and ODI cricket, it is hard to deny we’re seeing the fruit.
If anything, the success of this World Cup is providing some welcome headaches.
Cricket has never had a better opportunity to expand as an international game. The fact taht Bangladesh have beaten England and progressed to the final stages of the World Cup should be seen as a positive sign for Bangladesh.
While there may be some concerns about the state of the English cricket team and their performance, it makes no difference to the Bangladeshis – not one iota – only growing the confidence that they can finally compete with the ‘big guys’.
And it seems, just like the 1975 World Cup did 40 years ago, the 2015 World Cup could rejuvenate cricket, right when the game needs it.
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